Zhero Tolerance

It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning for others

Monday, October 30, 2006

Blood Elf Paladin

I’ve given this a lot of thought, but I will reroll a bloodelf (probably female) paladin when TBC comes out!

I’ll give you a few seconds to let it sink in.………………Really, I am serious.………I know and I can hear you think:- ‘Dude, you have a 60 easymode wtfpwn-warlock, why not continue the ownage?’- ‘Dude, you just decided to continue with your mage!’- ‘Dude, you have a druid, that’s more fun than a paladin!’- ‘Dude, a paladin. Are you awake?’- ‘Dude, lolladins are gay’- ‘Bubbleboys FTL!’- ‘Dude, please!’

A few reasons for me:- A new class (played a pala to lvl 14, that’s it so far)- A new race (that should keep me happy for a few levels :D)- I actually like the supportclass. I’ve had a warlock. I know what imba means. Been there, done that.- I like healing- I think paladins make a big difference in small groups and can make or break them (mages can’t do this)- Paladins are awesome for PvP as supportclass- I think paladins own in the right hands. I think I have those hands (we can all dream, can’t we?)- Paladins will help the guild with the new raiding content.

Only downside so far is that I have to start from lvl 1 and while others are exploring new content, I will be slaying raptors in the Barrens. Small additional downside is that investing time now in my mage, lock or druid seems kinda pointless, but I still have fun with my mage, so I will last the last months before the expansion (we went with the tram from Stormwind to Ironforge yesterday and held who-can-last-the-longest-while-running-through-Ironforge-mounted contest with some guildies which was a lot of fun).

Well, I will level full speed and hope to be one of the first lvl 60/70 paladins on horde-side. It gives me something to do now as well. At the moment I am collecting levellinggear already to make the trip to 60 less painfull :D

Huntard

So there we are. In Wetlands, killing that last dragon in the Onyxia questline for 2 guildies. Me (druid) was tanking, mage, lock, rogue, priest were in it to do it for the rogue and the priest. It was late, took (as always with that line) too long and while we were standing there ready for the wetlands-dragon (forgot the name) a Horde hunter (with fitting gnome-costume) is there as well. Maybe he needs to kill it too.

Now what the f*ck would we be doing here? I always wonder with those lvl 60’s these days. What did they do to get 60? When you’re in Dire Maul, whether it be east, west or north: they have no clue. They were never there, don’t know the pulls or the events. BRD: same, LBRS: same, UBRS: same. Strat and Scholo: please don’t get me started! In the early days we used to run those instances multiple times to get some nice blue gear. Nowadays they just grind to 60 with greens and apply to guilds to get their epix fast it seems. Why would some Hordes be in Wetlands watching a dragon in Alliance territory and ready to attack him?

While we start engaging I see a[Party] Huntard: brbWe kill the dragon and while the people get their questitem I see[Party] Huntard: back[Party] Huntard: What did he drop?I link my aurastone hammer and tell him I am very happy cause I was looking for it for a long time. It even came with the 55 healingspells enchant which was exactly the right one I told him. He was happy for me. Awwwwww, how cute….

[Huntard] whispers: what quest?To [Huntard]: ?[Huntard] whispers: what quest is this. Can you share it?To [Huntard]: It’s for the epic rogue quest[Huntard] whispers: what’s the rewardTo [Huntard]: some big phat 2-hander[Huntard] whispers: can I do that quest tooTo [Huntard]: are you a rogue?

I continue by telling him that the rogue now has to run from Orgrimmar to Cenarion Hold in 12 minutes as the next step, but that he can use swiftness potions. He then asks if hunters have an epic quest as well. As I explain him that they have, he says “ok bya” and logs off.

Another newbie educated. Really, I am too good for this world. You do wonder though if they even understand why they are called huntards!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Vurtne

Calling him “God” would not justify his skill. It is something beyond that, but I’m not sure what words to use then. This mage shows what quick reactions, incredible overview and absurd timing can do to people. He has been my hero from his first video on. As all mages I worshipped Otherguy first, saw all his movies and still like them till this day, but this goes a couple of steps further.

Yes, I know we only see the winning fights.Yes, I know he uses engineering, shadow-/fire-/frostreflect trinkets and bombs.Yes, I know people will beat him as well and he does not show us these.Yes, I know not all his opponents are as skilled as the people who bring up that argument.

But all these arguments really hold no ground, as it’s not about winning a duel, or succeeding in a gank or surviving a gank. It’s about control and how you play the string of events that lead to a player winning and a player dying and the strings he makes are far better than anyone I’ve ever seen.

If you don’t recognize why this guy is good (and better than other mages skillwise), plz don’t speak or whine about trinkets, opponents or whatever. Just be silent and ask someone to explain it to you. You might learn a thing or two.

Monday, October 23, 2006

PUG vs. Freddy vs. Jason. PUG wins!

Did you see that? Now why the f*ck do I react on that? I don’t know is my answer. I really don’t know. There are just moments in life where you wish you had done it differently. This was one of them. Brainfart-de-luxe. Inconvenient error in reality-checking procedure. Well, shit happens, so let's get it on!

They were all standing in Orgrimmar and not saying much in partychat so I continued grinding AD-rep (halfway to exalted) and after 5 minutes or so the fifth member joins. So now we have a lock, priest, tank, hunter and mage. Ideal setup it seems. I ask which DM we do and the answer is North. I ask if they will do tribute and the answer is yes. So I port to Thunder Bluff which was raided by an Alliance raid at that time, so it took me 3 corpseruns to get to the flightmaster (who luckily was still alive). I start flying and ask them if they have the mats.

Randomhunter: “For what”?Sonia: “For doing a tribute”Randomhunter: “We need mats for that?”Sonia: “Any of you ever did a tribute run?”

At this point the hunter starts whispering me and telling me the priest is T1 and the warlock and himself half t1, so we will be alright. I tell him he will need materials for a tribute. I land in Feralas, port back to Orgrimmar and buy the frostoil, rugged leather, rune thread and thorium widget all the time whispertalking to the hunter who seems ok. He ends with asking me if I can lead them through. Sure no problem, I did tribute a bazillion times, so we will be fine I guess.

Now appearantly the lock and priest are uae-people (which I really don’t care about, but now it did raise some questions as they have a reputation). The tank was alright, the hunter was good enough (though no trapping from him, but that’s fine with me), but the lock and the priest sucked bigtime. Priest was aoe-healing all the time, leaving him with little mana after simple pulls. The warlock didn’t use curse of elements or shadow for that matter once, even not when I explained that it would greatly help. He seemed destruction specced, was using searing pain(?) all the time and started soul draining at 70% with a lot of mobs. No pet-usage (charm is very good in dire maul). It just seemed as 2 players who bought their account and were discovering the things it had to offer. I never actually saw players that skilless. Their gear made up for their lack of any skill however.

As always with PUGS, chests are ninja-ed. I explained the trap-encounter, but the warrior just came in range to attack him. Luckily he went into the trap before that. And yes, I explained several times why we should not kill bosses. They managed to kill the drunk dude (not sure though if that one counts as well), the first one (we needed that for the key). The third boss they managed to engage as well. “Again green loot ffs!”. “And 1 blue less” I added, but it didn’t seem to land anywhere. After we went up the stairs towards the ogre tanin. “guys, let me have it, I just used mine to make a suit” I said. In the middle of the pull, the lock saw his chance and ninja-ed the tanin (does not really matter, but how annoying to do it in the middle of a pull as if we would not notice then), so an extra mob as well. Also no problem, but I said 3 times to wait.

At this point I really did not want to play anymore and I did what I never did before. I heartstoned and wished them luck.

They want me to lead them through, but don’t trust me. I take the key (for the 2nd door) and they yell that we should roll. “Wait here, I will get it” results in them following me and pulling a group, which the priests aoe-fears, so 2 more groups add. It was all very depressing.I whisper the hunter (he was ok) and apologize. He wants me to come back, but I just log and go to bed. PUG no more. I normally get them to listen and then we go smoothly through all pulls, but this was too much for me. I probably was tired as well.

Did I mention holy nova-ing right on my sheeps?Did I mention corruption on sheeps?Did I mention the warrior not attacking a sheep, cause he wants a ‘renew plz’ at 70%?Did I mention the minute I got summoned back a trade window opens and i read (yes caps) ‘WATER”?Did I mention I payed all the stuff (like 10g because some were only available in stack) and nobody offered to share the costs (just seems normal to me)?Did I mention “FFS sheep that caster” while I am banished?Did I mention walking in EVERY (yes each and every one of them) poisonous plants?Did I mention the hunter taking the tailorrecipy from the chest (BOP) while the priest was tailor (and I for that matter)? At least he apologized.

Maybe I just set my bar too high. Or I expect that people play as I want them to. Well, it’s not that, but wearing t1 and never even seen the inside of dire maul? It does raise questions indeed.

Weekend Recap

First of all: I am exalted with Alterac Valley! Finally done with it for the third time now (my druid and warlock both are exalted as well). I immediately went to Tarren Mill, rode to the entrance and found out the offhands (frost and fire) and the ring are respectively 40, 40 and 60 gold. Looking at my grand total of 7g34s, I knew it was not gonna happen. Kinda dumb to fly all the way for nothing. Ah! My warlock still had some gold. I relogged, send all the money on my lock (34g) and relogged again. I bought the fire offhand, the rest would have to wait.

Now Friday I had a drink from work and continued drinking in the evening with some friends at the local bar and Saturday I had my daughter’s birthdayparty and a gaming (boardgames) evening at a friends house. While playing ‘Koehandel’ there, I leeched the last part of rep in AV (I am normally not like that, but with Horde losing almost all AV’s nowadays, you just want to get it over with). I came home at 02:30 and played till 05:00 till I was exalted. Dedication is what gets you stuff. Remember that! Ah, and not only dedication, but a friend of mine closes his Horde account (he has 2) and send me all the mooncloth he had on the 3 moonclothbots which he made of the 2 lvl60’s and 1 lvl35 he had. Something like 25-30 mooncloth which I sold pretty quick for around 200g. (yiehaa frost offhand + AVring). Thumbs up for having friends! Ofcourse I took the wolf as well for 8g!

Molten Core on Sunday. Niiice. I still had some items to go for, so was glad it was on the planning. We normally start at 01:00 and my alarm was on 11:00. Plenty of time you would say. I woke up at 11:00, still felt tired and turned around once more and put off my alarm. Then my phone rang which woke me up. As I was waking up from the depths I activated my answer-the-phone-while-sounding-awake-but-totally-not-knowing-what-it-is-all-aboutbot. I see the time and suddenly I was awake! 14:30! Goddamnit! I log on, get invited and am on my way to MC, only to be in time for Garr. Suxxxx! Well, 1 wipe at Domo and people logging made it impossible to go on for Ragnaros, so we decided to let domo live as well. You might as well give the crew who will go there some loot as well later on.

Trick and Treat gave me this nice mask as well btw. I think it looks awesome on a female-ud. I have the Tauren-version as well, but that kinda sucks tbh. Well, that was my weekend, nothing much else than the usual: drinking, gaming and my daughter! (not in that order though :D)

Friday, October 20, 2006

Fire or Frost?

This is always something on a mage's mind. Fire of frost? Frost or fire? The difference is clear. Frost is all about survivability and sustained damage and the spec to have when running MC and BWL. Fire is all about glass cannon, burst damage and PvP (I heard Naxx and AQ40 are fine for firemages, but we don't run that). At least that is my opinion. Now I've always been a firemage.

[INTERMEZZO]When I started this game (like 1 week after release), I made a tauren druid. It was only in crossroads when I first even saw an undead. I saw them dance and was hooked. I decided to make an undead mage.I choose female, because I thought they had the cool dance as well (which unfortunately they don't). This mage I levelled to 60 first and I managed to get belt of the archmage while only a few people had it and mooncloth robe. Those were the days, where we thought that stats meant something. I put the mage aside, levelled a lock to 60 and never looked back. I even finished my druid to 60 and had my lock and druid in t1, before I even returned to my mage. And it feels good. Real good[/INTERMEZZO]

This weekend I played Alterac Valley till deep in the night (yep +damage is the way to go, so I want those offhands). I was frost, but decided to go back to fire. My gold was finally going up again (112g) and I clicked the talents at 05:00 am. THIS IS A VERY BAD IDEA! Never ever respec when you are tired!!! I misclicked not once, but twice and was smart enough to just log and respec again in the morning. In the morning I was awake enough to do it right and paid 100g to go from frost to fire. Yes, I am a retard, I know.

So I am back to fire, like it a lot and plan to stay it for a while (well, have to as I am broke now) and try to finish the last 3,5k I need in AV. I'm doing fine but when I browsed my screenies this morning, I found this one. I made it last week, when I was frost. Hmmmm, frost.......-- Zhero

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Ultimate Battle

A couple of weeks ago (when I was still playing active on my druid. A male tauren druid by the name 'Maro" with the standard 0/30/21 spec) i signed up for Arathi Basin. I got the enter message, but had to do something so I entered in the last few seconds. The gates are already open en I click the button to get the playerscreen. Here is where it gets weird. I see 2 players. 2 players? Yes, only 2 players? Myself and an alliance warrior. Gates are open, so I kinda stand there, clueless what to do and waiting for the "not enough players, this battle will end in 2(?) minutes"- message.

But that did not happen.

I get the message that Alliance captured the stables and will have it in 1 minute and it kicked in right there and then. Omg, 1v1, I need to do something! My much-too-mathematical mind immediatly calculates that I am behind now and have some catching up to do. If she (it was a female human -my guess is protection as she used a 1h with a shield- warrior) just goes from flag to flag, I will loose. The first strategy that comes to mind is getting flags that she has instead of taking uncontested ones as that will net me more. So i go straight for the stables, not touching farm at all and think if I just will run to what she is claiming, I will come out on top in the end.

And the mindgames began! I was thrilled really as this was something different than the usual zerg. We walk back and forth claiming eachothers flags until we run into eachother. I am still 3-2 behind because of the start (she had stables, mine and was busy with the farm, before I even touched a flag), but I am attacking stables to turn the tables. She charges and a small fight ensues. I am in feral gear and let me tell you that feralgear does absolutely nothing against a prot warrior. I managed to do what druids do very well: escape.

3-2 behind, come on, COME ON, COME ON!!. Think of something! It was clear she understood now that if she just ran to what I was attacking, she would win in the end. I switched to healing gear and put on my goblin rocket helmet (engineering ftw!). Healing gear + innervate > protection warriors! I charged her with my rocket helmet and knocked her silly, took the flag just before she came out and a little battle began. I was loosing again, so sprinted out and went back in. She turned to the flag and began to take it. I moonfired, she intercepted, I escaped.

She turned to the flag and began to take it. I moonfired, she intercepted, I escaped.She turned to the flag and began to take it. I moonfired, she intercepted, I escaped.She turned to the flag and began to take it. I moonfired, she intercepted, I escaped.She turned to the flag and began to take it. I moonfired, she intercepted, I escaped.

It took indeed 5 turns before she understood that time was on my side now (3-2 in my advantage) and this was not working at all. She seemed to panic and rode away with me behind her. Well, we had a nice 29 or so minute battle this way. This is where the story ends, I have a screeny with prove. See how this ended. Too me it felt like the ultimate battle, with me as ultimate winner. And the score? Well, I remember a quote: "It's not about winning, it's about totally demoralizing your opponent".

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Itemwhores

Do you know these people? They are in every guild. If it's epic, they must have it. They will need on every item wether they can use it or not. Wether it's an upgrade or not. Wether it supports their spec or not. If it's nice and purple, they need. Simple as that. Without having a clue what it really does for them. For that purpose they invented DKP (=dragon kill points). You earn points for the time you invest and you can spend them on items. This however leads to different problems.

Whispers I got in the past weeks:

- How much RKP do you have? (RKP = Ravens Kill Points. yeah yeah, we're elitists :D)Sonia: I got like 600- Goddamnit, that way I never get my arcanistSonia: I do not need on arcanist- Tnx man!

Now this is even funnier, because I meant I was not needing on it, because there are +damage items which are better. The blue shoulders from AQ20 are damagewise better than most epics while still having reasonable stats. It seems a lot of casters fail to see this. As long as your stats are good enough to survive PvE encounters, all you really want is +damage. (unless ofcourse you play to complete a set or any other roleplay reason)

- Are you gonna need on mageblade (yeah, i am finally on top of the mages/locks. I find this a normal question)Sonia: yes- Can you please pass, I really want that item.Sonia: ??- Please pass on it, I am waiting so long for itSonia: I will not pass on it. It is on my wishlist- But your warlock already has one

Ok, if we were a hardcoreraiding guild I could even understand that last remark a little, but we are not! I am gearing up my mage and accumulated enough points to get the mageblade when it drops. What is it with people? Never ever would I ask someone to pass on an item I want. You raid for it, you get it! Easy as that. If it's not your turn yet, you wait patiently untill it is your turn. Not being able to be glad for someone else because he gets a good item, instead whining that they would have wanted it. Argghhh, it drives me mad sometimes. I wonder if these people will survive in RL where this happens from day to day.

- I hope some Arcanist drops todaySonia: well eventually it will- I never seem to get any stuffSonia: Isn't this like your 2nd or 3th raid?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Lock or Mage: The Verdict!

Mage or Lock the solution

I talked to a friend about it and I know for sure now that I will continue with my mage. Why, you ask? Well, the following reasons:- I've always been a mage in most other games (D2 comes to mind)- Mages need more skill and I like a challenge- Mage is about superpower when being used right, lock is powerfull in any hand.- Portals: I am a lazy son of a bitch and porting all over the place suits me.- Water and bread. (though my lock had demonic sac. and had no real problems here)

Now, I am not like our GM (who even has multiple topics on our forum with the title "[insert random class here] is now my main") so want to stay as much as possible on 1 character to make sure it is optimized in every aspect instead of being half optimized because i have 2 alts who need reputation as well. I am sure an alt will come in time (probably a blood elf, just because it is new) but hope to be able to focus on 1 character for a long time to come. Multiple characters don't work very well with the new PvPsystem either. It will be like a reputationgrind as I understood it, so having more than 1 char is not good in terms of gearing them all up PvP-wise.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Ravens are strange people

I love my guildies, I really do. But the guild- and raidchat is really stranger than anything you could ever imagine.

Here Soulcatcher providing the phonenumber of Senbon:Then we have Jonez telling us what he does in his free time and advising the younger guildies. There is no such thing as too much education really.And finally Veritha. Our pro-roleplayer also known as the Gadzetstan-slut. Really dude, sometimes you give too much information. Just too much.I still love them. I really do!

PS: best chatpic I ever saw I still had somewhere in my pics-folder here at work (lolz. hehe). It's not from Ravens, but I post it anyway. The title is DEVOTION.

Elder Ravens

I found this pic between my screenshots. It's from the time you could still go with 10 man through BRD. Here we are at the Emperor's throne. I remember Artanias healing the whole raid and it was the first time i realized a shaman could do that.

Jonez: This is Farlon aka NetoSpelltotem: left Ravens, but still activeArtanias: deleted his shammie, made an alliance druid, deleted it and has a horde mage nowFlightX: Yep, it's himTardark: Nuff said.Sad: = GhosttTantor = NevermoreNimpie = Nimpster = Nimra The one without a name = Zhero :D

Thursday, October 12, 2006

TBC and then?

Decision-time.

Ok guys, with TBC peeking around the corner it is time to make decisions. Do I level my mage or do I level my warlock to lvl 70 first? (and go raiding with it). In terms of items I think it does not really matter as at lvl 70 probably blues will be better or the same as T2 which none of my chars has anyway.A little comparison:Mage – undead femaleName: SoniaTailoring/Herbalism Dressed up in high end blues and 1 or 2 epix.

Warlock – undead maleName: ZheroHerbalism/AlchemyDressed up in full T1 epix.

I like both but both classes are also highly represented in our guild. (yes I do have a 60 druid as well in full T1, but I AM NOT GOING TO WALK AROUND AS A TREE!). So, so much for druids. Besides I made it a male cow, which ofcourse should have been a female cow. But 60 levels too late for that. Now ofcourse I will choose what I like best, but let’s see what new stuff both will have in TBC.

MageArcane Blast – Direct damage spell with casting time getting less with each blast.Invisibility – It’s still unsure how it will work, but can be used as aggrodump in PvESpellsteal – This sounds awesome though it might steal a random spell (which would suck)Molten Armor – 75 damage to attackers and 10% less chance to be crittedIce Lance – 1.5 sec. Frost spell which does double damage when attackers are frozen.

LockSeed of Corruption – A new DOT which can’t be used together with corruptionFel Armor – increased health regen and +100 spelldamage!Ritual of Souls – Make a soulwell where everyone in raid can get a healthstone (awesome for pve carebears but usefull for pvp as well)Soulshatter – reduce aggro by 50%Incinerate – New fire spell which works with immolate.

Now the talents:MageArcane tree: more damage, slow and damagereductionFire tree: more damage and a cone of cold (but then with fire)Frost tree: more frostbolt power and a water elemental pet

LockAffliction tree: more dotpower, a new (uber?) dot and imp. Howl of terrorDemonology: A new pet, more damage and less critable.Destruction: new aoe and more damage on shadowbolts

While reading this I still can’t make up my mind. Plz help me, I’m lost!-- Zhero

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Zerg is your friend

After another night (5th in a row or so?) that we could not get enough people for BWL, we killed Onyxia (yes, no netherwind AGAIN! FFS) and then Vinnie set up a full Ravens AB-raid. Moewhahaha. Now here is where the fun starts. It's not like we're playing like a premade (zerg is your friend after all), but we have some major advantages. While we are sheeping their healers, they can not sheep ours simply because we have none. All those bastard-priests are shadowspecced and there is no more to be expected than a shield every once in a while. Healing is overrated as we cleaned 8 or 9 AB's in a row (including premade) this way in true Ravens style. In the pic our GM in his standard PvP outfit! :D